Your Right to Know

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoEamon Queeney | DispatchThere have been 728 permits issued for 186 spaces in Italian Village, said a leader of the neighborhood’s parking and traffic committee.

Parking has long been a challenge for visitors to the Short North. But now the city is trying to
forge a policy to quiet a growing conflict between residents and area workers.

One problem seems to be that there are too many permits for too few parking spaces.

The city had issued permits for employees to park in Italian Village, east of High Street
between Hubbard and Poplar avenues.

Andy Klein, who leads the Italian Village Society’s parking and traffic committee, said the
city told area leaders in November that a total of 728 permits had been issued for 186 spaces in
the neighborhood.

Those included 147 permits for businesses.

“We just don’t have the parking available,” said resident Mark Fazzina.

City officials are meeting with residents and other parties to figure out a solution. But the
city’s latest plan, which calls for parking changes by April 1, doesn’t sit well with business
owners and the Short North Alliance, which promotes area businesses and neighborhood
revitalization. The plan calls for businesses along the east side of High Street between Hubbard
and Poplar to receive two permits — one good any time and one good only on weekdays before 6 p.m.

“I think the debate is whether side streets are strictly for the residents ... or are
community assets,” said John Angelo, executive director of the Short North Alliance.

He said “business residents” are entitled to use those community assets. “They come here
every day. They are very much part of the fabric.”

Klein said the bigger problem is that there are more permits than spaces. “Focusing on the
employees, in my mind, is a red herring,” Klein said. “There are still too many permits for the
number of spaces.”

Angelo agrees.

“At one of our meetings, someone from the city said these permits are not a guarantee to
park, they are a license to hunt,” Angelo said.

To create more parking for daytime workers, the city’s proposal calls for converting 165
meters along Goodale and Park streets, which are west of High Street, to 12-hour meters between 6
a.m. and 6 p.m. It would cost 40 cents an hour to park there.

But Angelo said full-time service workers such as waiters and waitresses can’t afford $900 a
year in parking-meter fees.

Klein said he hopes that the city eliminates rush-hour parking restrictions along Summit and
N. 4th streets to increase the number of spaces during the day.

Judy Hoberg, who manages Studios on High Gallery at 686 N. High St., said employees need to
find places to park.

“I know the part business played in making it the desirable neighborhood it is,” Hoberg said.